Orthoses are therapeutic appliances for stabilizing or supporting the movement function of body parts, for example, pelvis and spinal column. Orthoses can be used post traumatically, or postoperatively, or conservatively. As a rule, orthoses are applied around the body part, for example around the hip, and closed belt-like such that a stabilizing pressure is applied to the body region to be stabilized. For example, with lumbar orthoses, it might be necessary to immobilize a specific spinal curvature (lordosis) in order to prevent further damage on the spinal column or to stabilize a postoperative condition, thus improving the healing process.
Known orthoses, for example, lumbar orthosis belts, frequently have tensioning devices, with which the tension/pressure of the applied orthosis to the body part can be increased in a controlled manner. For such purpose, a pulley assembly device can be provided. As is known, such a pulley assembly device substantially extends over the entire width of the orthosis with the objective of equalizing the tractive force across the entire width of the orthosis belt. Known tensioning devices which are based on pulley assemblies additionally have a loose pulling cable which runs along one side of the orthosis. It has become apparent that the use of orthoses designed in such a manner is fraught with disadvantages: Due to the equalizing of the tractive force caused by the known pulley assembly mechanism, an individual adjustment of the tension and thus the support effect to an individual treatment goal is not possible. At the same time, the tensioning of known pulley assemblies by means of one-sided pulling cables results in one-sided force action on the orthosis and thus to its warping or slipping.
An improved tensioning device with pulley assemblies is known from DE 10 2010 035 309 A1.